Coloring material and method of applying same



July 2, 1940. P-. FIDEL'MAN 2,205,722

COLORING MATERIAL AND METHOD OF APPLYING SAME Filed Sept. 25, 1959 I[Patented 1940 PATENT orsics azosszz COLORING MATERIAL AND METHOD OFAPPLYING SAME Paul Fldelinam New York, N. Y., asslgnor to Joseph DixonCrucible Company, Jersey City, N. J., a corporation of New JerseyApplication September 25, 1939, Serial No. 296,418

The invention relates to an improvement in coloring materials and to anovel method of applying the same to surfaces to be colored. Theinvention has special application to the coloring 5 of photographs,printed pictures, drawings and the like, with water soluble dyes, as,for example, I aniline dyes.

-.0ne object of the invention is the provision of coloring material insuch form that portions 10 thereof may be readily removed therefrom forspecific application to the surface to be colored. The coloringsubstance is preferably'contained in a mass or wad of fibrous absorbentmaterial. suchas cotton, wool or the like, impregnated with is a watersoluble dye, the fibers of the mass being in substantially parallel.slightly twisted (as in a slubber) or haphazard arrangement, as dis--tinguished from fibers twisted into thread form and woven fabrics; Themass of material is preferablymounted' on a support so that any desiredquantity for the purpose at hand may be removed from the mass ofmaterial, leaving the remainder of the mass mounted on the support forfurther use.

A further object of the invention isthe novel method of applyingthecoloring substance to the surfaces to be colored, as by removing aportion of the mass df dye-impregnated material and using it as a mop ordab or mounting it upon a support, such as a pointed stick, eitherloosely or twisting it to the desired shape for the purpose in view,moistening the material to bring the dye into liquid form, and thenapplying the moistened material to the surface to be colored.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a top a plan view of a support inthe form of a cardboard on which are mounted masses or wads of thedye-impregnated fibrous material, together with a plurality'of pointedsticks for holding the i 40 dye-impregnated material while in use; Fig.2 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a pointed stick togetherwith a portion of the dye-1 impregnated fibrous material, previous totwisting it about the pointed end of the stick; Fig. 3

4:, is a side elevation of the'portion of fibrous material twisted aboutthe pointed end of the stick and in condition for moistening andapplication to the surface to be colored; andjFig. 4 is a perspectiveview indicating the application of the coloring substance to the surfaceto be colored, by meansof the implement shown in Fig, 3, to-' getherwith a dish for containing water.

The material acting as the carrying mediuin for the water soluble dye,such as aniline dye, may be either cotton, wool or synthetic materialshaving liquid absorbent characteristics. Cotton fibers have provedsatisfactory in use, since they are cheap and are highly absorbent.Masses of the cotton fibers in a light or fiuify state and insubstantially parallel, slightly twisted or haphazard 5' I arrangementare dippedinto the dye-containing liquid, composed of the dye stuff andwater in the desired proportions. After complete satura-' tion, thefibrous material is removed from the bath andthe excess liquid issqueezed from the 10 saturated mass. The wet or moist dye-impregnatedmaterial is then placed in a centrifuge and spun until substantially allthe moisture is extracted from the mass of material, which is then hungon racks for the final drying step. when is thoroughly dry, the mass ofmaterial resumes its original state of fiufliness and is in suchcondition that small portions thereof may beremoved from the mass foruse. Masses or wads of the dry, dye-impregnated fibrous material inconven- 20 lent sizes may be mounted on a wooden board or a cardboard,or other suitable support. in any appropriate manner, as by providingthe board with a series of holes and pushing'therein a portion of themass of fibrous material to prevent it from being accidentally displacedfrom the board. Or the wads of dye impregna'ted fibrous material may besecured to the supporting board by paste why other fastening means, sothat the greater portion of the'wads will be in position for the 30convenient removal therefrom of portions in quantity suitable for thepurpose in view. The supporting board may contain any preferred numberof wads of the dye-impregnated fibrous material, and the wads may be allof different '5 colors or shades thereof. I

The supporting board ll shown inl 'ig. l is provided with seven massesor wads of the dye-lmpregnated fibrous material, each of which is of adifferent color, the wad of material indicated 0 at 8 being yellow orgold colored, and those indicated by the reference numerals I, 8, 9,III, ii and I! being colored green, blue, violet or purple, brown, redorpink, and orange, respectively. On the supporting card 5 are alsomounted as a plurality of pointed sticks II which may conveniently becomposed of wood, for supporting dabs of moistened dye-impregnatedfibrous material during application to the surfaces to be colored.

One modification of the novel method of coloring photographs, printedpictures, drawings and the like by means of the water solubledye-lmpregnated masses or wads of fibrous material mounted on card 5, isillustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and I 4. A portion of one of the masses orwads of colored material is torn from the mass, as indicated at IS inFig. 2, and may be of any preferred size, depending upon the nature ofthe work to be accomplished. The detached portion 15 of thedye-impregnated material is mounted on the pointed end of a stick N. Ifa relatively large surface isto be covered by a wash'of the coloringsubstance, the detached portion l5 of the material is mounted loosely onthe pointed end of the stick and moistened with water so that the dye isbrought into sufliciently liquid condition for application to thesurface. If, however, relatively fine work is to be done, as forexample, that comparable to the work performed by camel's hair brushesor pencils or crayons, then the detached portion of the fibrous materialis twisted around the pointed end of the stick into a tapered wad, asindicated at IS in Figs. 3

and 4. The portion iii of the fibrous material is preferably twistedaround the pointed end of the stick I4 while it is in dry condition andbrought to the requisite shape'and size before it is moistened to bringthe dye into liquid form for application to the surface to be colored.The moistening of the fibrous material may be effected in d anyconvenient way, as by dipping it into a pan I! of water Hi. Themoistened dye-impregnated fibrous material is now in condition forapplication to the photograph or other surface to be 001-. ored, onesuch photograph or printed surface be--' In those cases where relativelylarge areas are to be covered by a single colorat 'a time, it isn'otnecessary to support the dab of moistened dye-impregnated fibrousmaterial upon a stick. The desired amount of material may be detachedfrom one of the wads mounted 'on the supporting board and a portion ofit held between the uid dye or other coloring substance to be applied tothe surface to be colored can be readily.regulated by the pressureexerted upon the moistened fibrous material, the material itself beingsumciently absorbent to retain within its mass the liquid not applied tothe surface tobe colored. By reason of this property, it will berecognized that the present invention provides convenient means andmethod of spreading any desired thickness of coloring substance upon aphotograph, printed picture, drawing or the like, either as a wash or asrelatively fine lines.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the inventionconsists in the provision of a relatively large mass of dye-impregnatedabsorbent fibrous material, the fibers of which are not twisted intothread form or woven into fabric, but adhere to each other loosely byreason of, their fibrous nature, so that portions may be detached bypulling them from the main body of the mass of material for use eitherwith or without a supporting stick, after having been moist ened tobring the dye into condition to give up-its color to the surface to becolored,

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is: l

Asan article of manufacture, a carrier member, a plurality of coloredwads of dry, absorbent fibrous material impregnated with a water solubledye attached to said carrier member, and the fibers of the individualwads adhering, to each other by reason of their fibrous nature onlywhereby portions of the desired size may be selectively detached fromthe wads for attachment to an implement and used for coloringphotographs, printed pictures, drawings and the like with the watersoluble dye with which 'said fibers are impregnated.

PAUL FIDELMAN.

